CAPTAIN CHARLES SWANSTON Papers, 1891-93, 1960 Reel M445

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

CAPTAIN CHARLES SWANSTON Papers, 1891-93, 1960 Reel M445 AUSTRALIAN JOINT COPYING PROJECT CAPTAIN CHARLES SWANSTON Papers, 1891-93, 1960 Reel M445 Major-General C.D. Moorhead Warehorne Ashford, Kent Mrs A.N.M. Swanston Bank Crescent Ledbury, Herefordshire National Library of Australia State Library of New South Wales Filmed: 1963 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES Charles Swanston (1789-1850) was born in Berwick upon Tweed, Northumberland. He arrived in India in 1805 and was commissioned as a lieutenant in the Madras Army of the East India Company. He attended the Military Institute at Fort St George. In 1808 he was attached to a force under General Sir John Malcolm that was proceeding to Persia, but the expedition was abandoned. He took part in a campaign against the Rajah of Travancore and in 1810 was in the expedition that captured the French colony of Mauritius. Swanston carried out a military survey of Mauritius and produced a report on its defences. He returned to India in 1814 and was assigned to the Quarter- master General’s Department. In 1817-18 he was given command of the Poona Auxiliary Horse and took part in several actions in the Anglo-Mahratta War. In 1819 he received the brevet rank of captain in the Madras Army. In 1821 he became the military paymaster in Travancore and Tinnevelly, but his hopes of obtaining a more substantial promotion were disappointed. In 1828 Swanston was given a year’s leave. He and his family arrived in Hobart in June 1829. He brought £10,000 with him and immediately acquired a number of properties, including a town house in Newtown. Swanston decided to settle in the colony and he returned briefly to India to give up his army appointment. In 1831 he acquired a fifth of the shares in the Derwent Bank and was appointed managing director. In addition, he was an import and export agent, investment agent and wool broker and he acted as an agent for firms in Madras, Calcutta, Canton, Manila and Mauritius. He was a member of the Legislative Council from 1833 to 1848. In 1835 Swanston was one of 15 leading Tasmanian colonists who formed the Port Phillip Association with the aim of acquiring land and forming a settlement at Port Phillip Bay. The Batman deeds were declared void by Governor Bourke and most members of the Association sold out to Swanston. One of the main streets in Melbourne was named after him in 1837. The name of the Port Phillip Association was changed to Derwent Company, before being dissolved in 1842. Swanston acquired land in the Geelong district and later he and his son-in-law, Edward Willis, held a number of pastoral properties in the Western District of Victoria. The Derwent bank had prospered in the 1830s under Swanston’s management, but it struggled during the economic depression of the early 1840s. It went into liquidation in 1849, leaving him with substantial liabilities. Edward Willis (1816-1895) arrived in Van Diemen’s Land with his family in 1823. In 1837 he established a sheep station near Melbourne. In 1840 he married Catherine Swanston and in 1844 he formed a partnership with her father Charles Swanston. The Geelong firm of Willis and Swanston acquired Koolomurt Station in the Wimmera, which Willis developed into one of the finest merino studs in Victoria. Charles Lambert Swanston (d. 1897), the eldest son of Charles Swanston, sold out his share of Koolomurt to Willis in 1854. 2 CAPTAIN CHARLES SWANSTON Reel M445 1. Statement of the services of Captain Charles Swanston of the 2nd Battalion, 12th regiment, Madras N.I., Uxbridge, 1891. (printed, 33pp) The pamphlet provides a summary of Swanston’s service in the Madras Army from 1805 until his retirement in 1833. In particular, it deals with his involvement in the Third Anglo-Mahratta War in 1817-18. The latter part of the work consists largely of letters commending Swanston and discussing his claims for promotion. The correspondents include the Duke of York, Major-General Henry Warde, Lieutenant-General Sir Thomas Hislop, Major-General Sir John Malcolm, Brigadier-General Lionel Smith, Colonel J. Cunningham, and Mountstuart Elphinstone, the Resident at Poona. 2. Rough diary of a journey from Scutari to Baghdad performed on horseback in 1814, Uxbridge, 1893. (printed, 16pp) Swanston left England in May 1814 to return to India. He carried despatches for the Governor- General of India reporting the defeat of Napoleon and the signing of the Treaty of Paris. Swanston accompanied Henry Ellis, the British envoy to the Shah of Persia, to Constantinople. He left Scutari on 3 July 1814 and, accompanied by four Tartars and two guides, he rode for 48 days through Asia Minor and the upper desert to Mosul and Baghdad. From there he sailed to Basra and Bombay, which he reached on 10 October 1814. 3. C.D. Moorhead. ‘The Swanston Family 1789-1960’, August 1960. (typescript) The work consists of the following sections: The Swanston tree. Short biography of Captain Charles Swanston. (4pp) Descendants of Captain Charles and Mrs Swanston 1789-1960. (5pp) Descendants of Charles Lambert Swanston. (tree) The Willis Family of Koolomurt Station, Victoria. (5pp) 4. Photograph of a portrait of Charles Swanston and a photograph of Swanston with a horse. 3 .
Recommended publications
  • Expedtion from Van Diemen's Land to Port Phillip in 1835
    (No. 44.) 1885. PARLIAMENT OF TASMANIA. EXPEDI'TION FROM VAN DIEMEN'S LAND TO PORT PHILLIP IN 1835. Presented to both Houses ot Parliament by l-t is Excellency's Command. EXPEDITION FROM VAN DIEMEN'S LAND TO PORT PHILLIP, 1835 ■ Hobart Town, 25tl1 June, 1835. Srn, ' I HAVE the honor of reporting to Your Excellency, for the information of His Majesty's Government, the result of an Expedition undertaken by myself, at the expense and in conjunC'tion with several gentlemen, inhabitants of Van Diemen's Land, to Port Phillip, on the south-western point of New Holland, for the purpose of forming an extensive Pastoral Establishment, and combining therewith the civilization of the Native Tribes who are living in that part of the country. Before I enter into the details I deem it necessary to state, for the information of His Majesty's Government, that I am a native of New South Wales, and that for the last six years I have been most actively employed in endeavoring to civilize the Aboriginal Natives of Van Diemen's Land, and in order to enable the local Government of this Colony to carry that important object into full effect, I procured from New South Wales eleven aboriginal Natives of New Holland, who were, under my guidance, mainly instrumental in carrying into effect the humane objects of this Government · towards the Aborigines of this Island. I also deem it necessary to state that I have been for many years impressed with the opinion that a most advantag·eous Settlement might be formed at Western Port, or Port Phillip, and that, in 1827, Mr.
    [Show full text]
  • Reputations on the Line in Van Diemen's Land
    REPUTATIONS ON THE LINE IN VAN DIEMEN’S LAND: a dissertation on the general theme of the Rule of Law as it emerged in a young penal colony with particular emphasis on the law of defamation by ROSEMARY CONCHITA LUCADOU-WELLS LLB., (Queensland), B.Ed., (Tasmania), MA., (Murdoch), PhD., (Deakin) This thesis is presented for the degree of Master of Laws of Murdoch University, 2012. I declare that this thesis is my own account of my research and contains as its main content work which has not been submitted for a degree at any tertiary education institution. Rosemary Conchita Lucadou-Wells ABSTRACT This research focuses on the development of the jurisprudence of the infant colony of Van Diemen’s Land now known as Tasmania, with particular interest on the law of defamation. During the first thirty years of this British penal colony its population was subject to changes. There were the soldiery, who provided the basis of government headed by a Lieutenant Governor, the indigenous people, the convicts, and gradually an influx of settlers who came enthused by governmental promises of grants of land. In addition to these free settlers there were a selection of convicts who, under a process of something akin to manumission under Roman Law, became upon completion of their sentence, eligible for freedom and possibly a grant of land. There developed a spirit of competition amongst the settlers, each wanted to become more successful than the others. The favourite means of distinguishing oneself was the uttering or publication of damaging words against a person who was perceived to be a rival.
    [Show full text]
  • Malcolm Pearse, 'Australia's Early Managers'
    AUSTRALIA’S EARLY MANAGERS Malcolm Pearse1 Macquarie University Abstract The origins of managers and management have been studied comprehensively in Great Britain, Europe and the United States of America, but not in Australia. Most scholars have looked at Australia’s history in the twentieth century to inform the literature on the modern enterprise, big business and management, but the role of the manager or agent was established in many businesses by the 1830s. There were salaried managers in Australia as early as 1799, appointed to oversee farms. The appointment of managers in Australia from as early as 1799 continued the practice of British institutions in some industries. But in other contexts, management practice departed from British practice, demonstrating largely adaptive, rather than repetitive features. As the wool industry dominated the economy, the range of industries grew and managers or agents were appointed to businesses such as public companies, which were formed from at least 1824. During the 1830s, there were managers of theatres, hotels, merchant houses, and in whaling, cattle, sheep, shipping and banking activities. As banking expanded during the 1830s and 1840s, so did the number of managers. Bank managers were appointed both with the entry of new banks and with branch expansion. As banks expanded their branch network, the number of managers increased. The establishment of branches continued another British institution in the colonial context and further reinforced the manager’s role. The rise of the salaried manager in Australia was harnessed to the rise of the public company and began as early as the 1840s but was more evident during the second half of the nineteenth century, when public companies grew bigger and prominent in strategically important industries such as grazing, sugar, water, engineering, electricity, banking, insurance and shipping, river and stage coach transport.
    [Show full text]
  • Victorian Historical Journal
    VICTORIAN HISTORICAL JOURNAL ROYAL HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF VICTORIA The Royal Historical Society of Victoria is a community organisation comprising people from many fields committed to collecting, researching and sharing an understanding of the history of Victoria. TheVictorian Historical Journal is a refereed journal publishing original and previously unpublished scholarly articles on Victorian history, or on Australian history where it illuminates Victorian history. It is published twice yearly by the Publications Committee, Royal Historical Society of Victoria. EDITORS Richard Broome, Emeritus Professor, La Trobe University, and Judith Smart, Honorary Associate Professor, RMIT University PUBLICATIONS COMMITTEE Jill Barnard Rozzi Bazzani Sharon Betridge (Co-editor, History News) Marilyn Bowler Richard Broome (Convenor) (Co-Editor, History News) Marie Clark Jonathan Craig (Reviews Editor) John Rickard John Schauble Judith Smart (Co-editor, History News) Lee Sulkowska Carole Woods BECOME A MEMBER Membership of the Royal Historical Society of Victoria is open. All those with an interest in history are welcome to join. Subscriptions can be purchased at: Royal Historical Society of Victoria 239 A’Beckett Street Melbourne, Victoria 3000, Australia Telephone: 03 9326 9288 Email: [email protected] www.historyvictoria.org.au Journals are also available for purchase online: www.historyvictoria.org.au/publications/victorian-historical-journal VICTORIAN HISTORICAL JOURNAL ISSUE 291 VOLUME 90, NUMBER 1 JUNE 2019 Royal Historical Society of Victoria Victorian Historical Journal Published by the Royal Historical Society of Victoria 239 A’Beckett Street Melbourne, Victoria 3000, Australia Telephone: 03 9326 9288 Fax: 03 9326 9477 Email: [email protected] www.historyvictoria.org.au Copyright © the authors and the Royal Historical Society of Victoria 2018 All material appearing in this publication is copyright and cannot be reproduced without the written permission of the publisher and the relevant author.
    [Show full text]
  • The Wathawurrung People's Encounters with Outside Forces 1797-1849: a History of Conciliation and Conflict
    The Wathawurrung People's Encounters with Outside Forces 1797-1849: A History of Conciliation and Conflict David (Fred) Cahir, Diploma in TESOL, Bachelor of Arts (Hist.), Graduate Diploma of Education, Preliminary Master of Arts (Hist.) A Thesis submitted in total fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts by research. School of Behavioural and Social Sciences and Humanities University of Ballarat P.O Box 663 Gear Avenue, Mt Helen Ballarat, Victoria 3353 Australia October 2001 Statement of Authorship Except where explicit reference is made in the text of the thesis, this thesis contains no material published elsewhere or extracted in whole or in part from a thesis by which 1 have qualified for or been awarded another degree or diploma. No other person's work has been relied upon or used without due acknowledgment in the main text and bibliography of the thesis. October 2001 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my wife and children for waiting patiently over the past seven years until this thesis was finished before they could enjoy my company again. Sandy supported this thesis not only by providing critical academic feedback but also by doing the lions share of essential housework and propping up my fragile intellectual ego at crucial moments. My supervisors, Dr Janice Newton and Dr Ian Clark, have been exemplary role models, colleagues, friends and mentors. I cannot speak highly enough of them. I am indebted to many people for assisting me in my sojourn. My special thanks go to Tim Hogan from the State Library of Victoria, Dr Margaret Zeegers from the University of Ballarat English Language Centre and Ann Beggs Sunter from the University of Ballarat.
    [Show full text]
  • The Challicum Sketch Book 1842-53 and Supplementary Paintings by Duncan Elphinstone Cooper
    The Challicum Sketch Book 1842-53 and Supplementary Paintings by Duncan Elphinstone Cooper Philip L. Brown The nineteenth century squatter and painter Duncan Elphinstone Cooper spent about thirteen years of his life in the Western District of Victoria where he painted the fifty-four pictures presented in this volume. Most of these are from Cooper's The Challicum Sketch Book, now a treasured part of the collections of the National Library of Australia; the paintings deal almost exclusively with the grazing property of that name — from tent to house and beyond. Cooper was the son of a Bengal Army officer and his wife, from Little Chart, Kent, and came to Australia in 1841. He became a partner in Challicum Station in the Fiery Creek district, north-west of Geelong, and later owner of the southern third of the run, at that time licensed separately as Warrapinjoe. With his Challicum partners, George and Harry Thomson, he bred sound sheep for their wool, and also cattle, running Warrapinjoe in conjunction with the main station until he sold out late in 1853. He then returned to Britain, where he occupied rooms in London's West End until his death in 1904, but made the Oriental Club his social address. Philip L. Brown has described Cooper as 'a part-time artist who was continually painting'. It is apparent that Cooper regarded himself as an artist of inferior skill: in his will he suggested that several of his sketches were 'of no monetary value being amateur work'. The noted Australian art historian Bernard Smith took a more objective view when he described Cooper's paintings as those of 'an amateur of some accomplishment' and praised his style as 'pleasant .
    [Show full text]
  • Convincing-Ground-Sample.Pdf (Pdf, 262.82
    Pascoe Sample Chapter One Franks is Dead Everybody agrees that this is what happened. Franks and Flinders were killed by blows from steel hatchets landing so heavily that Franks’ skull was driven into the turf. And that’s the point at which agreement stops. The Champion arrived at Point Gellibrand in Port Phillip Bay in 1836. On the ship Charles Franks brought 500 sheep and a partner, George Smith, and a shepherd called either Flinders or Hindes, but nobody seems certain. The waters off Point Gellibrand are shallow, clear and calm, crowded with mussels, oysters, flounder, flathead and garfish. Only twelve months earlier, Bunurong, Wathaurong and Woiwurrung people feasted on this bay of plenty; their ovens and houses are evident but already the people are scarce, avoiding the frenetic activity of the white people. It is winter but even so the days can be brilliant with mild sunshine, the wavelets scattering light as if from a shattered mirror. It is God’s own country. A man might become anything here. In those days women could please themselves. In this mood of limitless opportunity Franks removes his sheep from the Champion on 23 June and, on the advice of George MacKillop, decides to take up land around Mount Cotterell on the headwaters of the Barwon River. It took until 2 July to cover the 20 miles (32 kilometres) of flat volcanic grasslands. After depas- turing the sheep George Smith returned to Point Gellibrand to bring up more stores. On 8 July Smith arrives at Mount Cotterell, sees no sign of Franks or Flinders but the stores appear to have been ransacked.
    [Show full text]
  • Cooksland in North-Eastern Australia
    This is a digital copy of a book that was preserved for generations on library shelves before it was carefully scanned by Google as part of a project to make the world's books discoverable online. It has survived long enough for the copyright to expire and the book to enter the public domain. A public domain book is one that was never subject to copyright or whose legal copyright term has expired. Whether a book is in the public domain may vary country to country. Public domain books are our gateways to the past, representing a wealth of history, culture and knowledge that's often difficult to discover. Marks, notations and other marginalia present in the original volume will appear in this file - a reminder of this book's long journey from the publisher to a library and finally to you. Usage guidelines Google is proud to partner with libraries to digitize public domain materials and make them widely accessible. Public domain books belong to the public and we are merely their custodians. Nevertheless, this work is expensive, so in order to keep providing this resource, we have taken steps to prevent abuse by commercial parties, including placing technical restrictions on automated querying. We also ask that you: + Make non-commercial use of the files We designed Google Book Search for use by individuals, and we request that you use these files for personal, non-commercial purposes. + Refrain from automated querying Do not send automated queries of any sort to Google's system: If you are conducting research on machine translation, optical character recognition or other areas where access to a large amount of text is helpful, please contact us.
    [Show full text]
  • VICTORIA DAY COUNCIL SEPARATION TREE CEREMONY ORATION by Gary Morgan November 14, 2009 – Updated April 2020
    Appendix 2 VICTORIA DAY COUNCIL SEPARATION TREE CEREMONY ORATION by Gary Morgan November 14, 2009 – updated April 2020 Town Crier, Brian Whykes Left to Right; Gary Morgan, Anthony Cree Victorian Colonial Troops and Norman Kennedy, (In 1850’s uniform) Chair of the Victoria Day Council Reading of the 1850 Proclamation of Separation, Victorian Re-enactment Society Inc and Victorian by the Town Crier, Brian Whykes Colonial Infantry Association Inc. (In 1850’s uniform) Oration and Presentation of Essay Prize Left to Right: Gary Morgan, Cr Helen Whiteside by Gary Morgan (Mayor, City of Glen Eira), Cr Dick Ellis (East Gippsland Shire Council) & Kim Ellis, Cr James Long 1 (Mayor, Bayside City Council) 2 VICTORIA DAY COUNCIL SEPARATION TREE CEREMONY ORATION by Gary Morgan November 14, 2009 (Updated by Gary Morgan, January 2020) Acknowledgements: Ian Morrison, Stewart McArthur, Shane Carmody (Director, Collections & Access, State Library of Vic.) Since November 19, 1834, when Edward Henty (aged 24 years) arrived at Portland Bay, there have been three major political events which have shaped the State of Victoria to make it what it is today: 1. Separation of the Port Phillip District (Victoria) from New South Wales – July 1, 1851 – the Separation Association (formed June 4, 1840) was strongly opposed to convict labour and convict settlement, and English military administration from Sydney, 2. The Eureka uprising in the Victorian goldfields, December 3, 1854, and subsequent ‘Not Guilty’ verdicts involving the Melbourne legal establishment many of whom had been vocal supporters of the Separation of Victoria and opposed to the oppressive English military administration, and 3.
    [Show full text]
  • Melbourne's Streets and Lanes: What's in a Name?
    Melbourne’s streets and lanes: what’s in a name? A’BECKETT STREET Sir William A’Beckett, Port Phillip Resident Judge from FINLAY ALLEY Possibly for John Finlay, road contractor, pastoralist and later St Market provided covered accommodation from 1849 (D5). 1845, and Victoria’s first Chief Justice(D1). Kilda resident (E2). MARKET LANE Gas lit by 1860s, the Eastern Market provided fresh produce ALBION ALLEY The Albion Hotel in Bourke Street was the city terminus of FLANIGAN LANE Architects John Flanigan snr and jnr designed the now and lively entertainment on Saturday nights (H3). Cobb & Co. coaches (F3). demolished Eastern Market (E2). MCCRACKENS LANE McCracken’s Collins Street brewery produced stout ALFRED PLACE After migrant ship or for birth of Prince Alfred, 6 August 1844, FLINDERS STREET In April 1802 navigator Capt. Matthew Flinders in the and ales from 1851 until it became part of Carlton and United breweries who visited Australia as Duke of Edinburgh 1867-1868 (H4). Investigator claimed discovery of Port Phillip, but later acknowledged the prior in 1907 (C4). ATHENAEUM PLACE Named for Athena (Greek Goddess of Wisdom), the arrival in February of the Lady Nelson under Acting Lieut. John Murray (C5). MCILWRAITH PLACE Formerly Lilly Lane, after 1840s estate agent James Athenaeum was the rebuilt Mechanics Institute; now hosts a library, club FRANCIS STREET Merchant politician JG Francis held the Trade and Customs Lilly; John McIlwraith, manufacturer of plumbing goods and shipowner was and theatre (G4). portfolio in 1866 when the Government Shipping Offices were built fronting Lord Mayor of Melbourne 1873-4 (J4).
    [Show full text]
  • CAPTAIN T.G.S. WARD Letters Collected for Their Philatelic Value, 1821-66 Reels M407-9, M593, M718
    AUSTRALIAN JOINT COPYING PROJECT CAPTAIN T.G.S. WARD Letters collected for their philatelic value, 1821-66 Reels M407-9, M593, M718 Captain T.G.S. Ward Lammas Eyot Long Wittenham Abingdon, Berkshire National Library of Australia State Library of New South Wales Filmed: 1960-62, 1965, 1967 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE Thomas Gray Spencer Ward attended the Nautical College at Pangbourne, Berkshire, from 1942 to 1946. He then joined the Port Line as an apprentice and remained with the company until his retirement in 1980. The Port Line was a subsidiary of the Liverpool-based Cunard Line. For about twenty years Ward commanded Port Line vessels, mostly trading with Australia and New Zealand. Ward had a strong interest in postal history and philately and built up considerable knowledge of the sailing ships and steamers that carried mails between Britain and Australia and New Zealand in the nineteenth century. In the 1960s he contributed regular articles on this subject to the Postal History Society Bulletin. He assembled a large collection of Australian letters on account of their postmarks, including both business and personal letters. Some were written by notable figures such as William Westgarth, Sir Alfred Stephen, the Reverend Thomas Stowe and Fanny Bussell. Recognising that the content of the letters, as well as their covers, were important, Ward offered them for copying to the Australian Joint Copying Project on a number of occasions between 1960 and 1967. After he retired, Ward emigrated to Australia and lived at Nambucca Heads on the north coast of New South Wales. He maintained his interest in postal history and in 2000 published The California, New Zealand and Australian Mail Line of steam packets 1870-71.
    [Show full text]
  • And Van Diemen's Land Merchant
    Captain Charles Swanston ‘Man of the World’ and Van Diemen’s Land Merchant Statesman Eleanor Denise Robin, BA, Grad Cert App Sci (Ornithology) School of Humanities Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy University of Tasmania, 12 March 2017 i Copyright statement This thesis may be made available for loan and limited copying and communication in accordance with the Copyright Act 1968. Eleanor Robin 12 March 2017 ii Declaration This thesis contains no material accepted for a degree or diploma by the University or any other institution, except by way of background information and duly acknowledged in the thesis. To the best of my knowledge and belief, it contains no material previously published or written by another person, except where due acknowledgement is made in the text, nor does the thesis contain any material that infringes copyright. Eleanor Robin 12 March 2017 iii Abstract For two decades in the development of Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania), Captain Charles Swanston (1789−1850) was one of the most influential men in Hobart Town. In the time- honoured tradition of the nineteenth century British Empire, he was the very model of a Merchant Statesman, strengthening the link between commercial enterprise and colonial good. Between 1829 and 1850 Swanston was managing director of the renowned Derwent Bank, Member of the Van Diemen’s Land Legislative Council, an internationally-recognised entrepreneur and merchant, an instigator of the settlement of Melbourne and the Geelong region and a civic leader. His strategic skills, business acumen, far-sightedness and bold ambition contributed significantly to Van Diemen’s Land’s transition from an island prison to a free economy.
    [Show full text]